Scotland's comments come ahead of a meeting between International
Trade Secretary Liam Fox and ministers from the 52 Commonwealth
nations in London on Thursday and Friday.

The Times reports that Fox plans to guarantee Commonwealth
nations that their trading relationship with Britain will only
improve or stay the same, not get worse, due to Brexit. Fox also
apparently wants to push for an African free trade zone that
Britain can strike a deal with.

However, skeptical Whitehall officials have internally branded
the plans "empire 2.0," according
to the Times, expressing doubts over how effective trade with
the Commonwealth will be in compensating for affected EU trade.
While the Commonwealth collectively represents more countries
than the EU, they are spread across the world, making trade
difficult and costly.

In her interview with the FT, Scotland countered this by
citing a report that found trade between Commonwealth nations is
20% cheaper than would be expected from trade over such
distances. She added that South Africa, India, Kenya, Nigeria,
and Jamaica have all approached her office to talk about boosting
trade links.

However, the leaking of the phrase "empire 2.0" to the press
seems to have done the damage that sceptics of the policy
intended. Many commentators on Twitter have confused the
derogatory term with official government branding and are
attacking Fox and his office for its seeming crassness (although
it is, of course, the policies opponents who are branding it
empire 2.0.)

"That's the most unfortunate phrase, because don't forget, for
example, that India's experience of trade with the East India
Company in the bad old days, was that they destroyed our thriving
free trade."